The Companies

Entrepreneurship and innovation are strongly correlated in China’s AI ecosystem. While many of its traditional industries remain dominated by state-owned enterprises, China’s AI landscape is composed of a vibrant mix of private technology giants, AI startups, and venture capital investors (both private and state-backed).

The alliances and rivalries connecting these players will shape China’s AI landscape for years to come. This web of relationships is complex, which is why we’ve curated a list of China’s top AI-related companies in the interactive feature below.

Instructions

Hover over a company to view its investors and investments.

Click on a company for a brief profile.

Select a tag to filter by industry.

Click the Company Database tab for more details on the giants and startups.

100 Credit develops products and services to help financial institutions to manage the lending process throughout the life cycle of a loan. In addition, it helps insurance companies to determine precision pricing and customize products, among others.

Ahi Fintech

AI Startup

Ahi Fintech specializes in integrating human expertise with big data to manage and mitigate financial risks. Its products have been applied to areas including banking fraud, credit security, and anti-money laundering, among others.

Alibaba

Tech Giant

Alibaba is a conglomerate spanning e-commerce, retail, and cloud computing, among other business units. Its AI-powered payments affiliate company, Ant Financial, is the world's most valuable fintech unicorn with a valuation of $150 billion as of November 2018. Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, raising $22 billion.

Baidu

Tech Giant

Baidu specializes in internet-related services with a focus on search. The company launched an open AI platform for developers and another open platform named Baidu Apollo for autonomous driving. The company went public on NASDAQ in 2005.

BAIFENDIAN

AI Startup

BAIFENDIAN offers integrated and optimized solutions for e-commerce customers, such as industry leader JD.com, by leveraging in-site traffic and business intelligence analysis. The company helps businesses better target customers by providing insight on their behaviors and brand recognition.

Bitmain

AI Startup

Bitmain is the largest manufacturer of chips used for cryptocurrency mining, but has begun branching out into manufacturing specialized ASIC chips tailored for AI. In October 2017, it released its first AI product, the Sophon BM1680. Bitmain’s founder estimates that within five years, 40% of the company’s revenue will come from AI chips. As of November 2018, Bitmain is in the process of listing in Hong Kong.

Bytedance

Tech Giant

Bytedance employs AI algorithms to personalize content recommendations for users. Products of the company, such as Douyin and Toutiao, are among the most popular content platforms in China. Douyin has even made some inroads in the global market under the brand TikTok. The company’s valuation stands at $75 billion, on par with Uber, and is planning an IPO as early as 2019.

Cambricon

AI Startup

Cambricon specializes in building AI chips that power deep learning algorithms on edge devices (those that intake data, such as cameras or smartphones). It was founded by two brothers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences before being spun out into its own company. In early 2018, the company licensed its intellectual property to Huawei to help the latter build AI-enabled smartphones.

Cloudminds

AI Startup

Cloudminds offers cloud-based operating systems for humanoid robots. It focuses on creating advanced AI engines in the cloud that enable intelligent robots on the ground.

Cloudwalk

AI Startup

Cloudwalk is a computer vision startup that develops facial recognition technologies and biometric systems. The company has supplied its products and technology solutions to over 100 financial institutions and public security bureaus.

Deepwise

AI Startup

Deepwise uses computer vision to analyze medical images and offer diagnostic solutions. The company focuses on early-stage detection of cancer and other terminal diseases.

DiDi

Tech Giant

DiDi is a ride-sharing technology company. It acquired Uber's China unit in 2016 and became the largest player in the China market. In recent years, the company started to expand into autonomous driving and AI research to enable intelligent and secure transportation. Based on the latest round of funding in late 2017, the company's valuation stands north of $50 billion.

DJI

AI Startup

DJI manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. The company is the undisputed industry leader, with an estimated 70% share of the global drone market, and offers various models of drones for amateurs, professionals, and enterprises. The company has incorporated visual processing chips that allow for object avoidance and more autonomous flight. In 2018, DJI announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to integrate more AI and machine learning capabilities in its drones.

Fourth Paradigm

AI Startup

Fourth Paradigm is an AI services and solutions provider for industrial applications. The company’s flagship product, AI Prophet, is a development platform that enables companies to develop their own AI applications to address various problems.

Horizon Robotics

AI Startup

Horizon Robotics specializes in AI-enabled chipsets for edge devices (those that intake data, such as cameras or smartphones). In late 2017, the company launched two chipsets, Journey and Sunrise, for autonomous vehicles and smart cameras respectively.

Huawei

Tech Giant

Huawei is a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics. In 2018, the company overtook Apple to become the second-largest smartphone maker in the world, after Samsung. In October 2018, the company introduced two AI chips (developed by its chip unit HiSilicon) and an over-arching strategy to develop its own AI capabilities.

iCarbonX

AI Startup

iCarbonX aims to offer personalized healthcare via a consumer-facing platform, using AI to mine vast stores of health data in combination with collecting biometric and experiential information on the user. According to the company, its personal health management platform Meum now has more than 1 million users globally. Founded by the former head of the Beijing Genomics Institute, iCarbonX has partnered with companies in the US and in 2016 acquired an Israeli image recognition company.

iDriver+

AI Startup

iDriver+ develops low-speed autonomous vehicle technology solutions for commercial use, such as package delivery and street cleaning. The company has deployed vehicles in the Xiong'an New Area in Hebei province, the region piloting a number of AI and sustainability initiatives.

iFlyTek

Tech Giant

iFlytek develops deep-learning based software in a range of fields, including speech recognition, natural language processing, machine translation, and data mining. The company went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2008.

Infervision

AI Startup

Infervision specializes in medical imaging analysis through deep learning technologies. In recent years, the company has focused on CT and MRI image analysis and diagnosis and recommends solutions for radiologists.

JD.com

Tech Giant

JD is an e-commerce conglomerate and has in recent years expanded into the AI space. The company has both established its own AI research center with focuses on natural language processing, computer vision, and machine learning and invested in equity and partnerships with AI startups. The company listed on NASDAQ in 2014, raising $1.78 billion.

Megvii (Face++)

AI Startup

Megvii is a computer vision company and direct rival of SenseTime. Its most well known technology Face++ is currently used by more than 300,000 developers globally. It was recognized by MIT Tech Review as one of the 50 Smartest Companies in 2017.

Mininglamp

AI Startup

Mininglamp specializes in providing enterprise solutions through big data mining. Its products, such as the LiteMind 2.0 platform, have been applied to areas ranging from finance and security to smart cities planning.

Mobvoi

AI Startup

Mobvoi develops voice-based technologies, including voice recognition, natural language processing, and vertical search. Founded by a former Google researcher, the company has released its own smartwatches and intelligent speakers, and has partnered with Volkswagen to bring AI speech technology to its cars.

Momenta

AI Startup

Momenta develops deep learning software and offers autonomous driving solutions in vision, mapping, and path planning. The company teamed up with University of Oxford in 2017 for a global visual recognition challenge, ImageNet, and won first place.

Pony.ai

AI Startup

Pony.ai develops autonomous vehicle systems. The company is co-located in Silicon Valley, Guangzhou, and Beijing, and secured an autonomous vehicle testing license in Beijing in July 2018. It released its product-ready autonomous vehicle fleet system, PonyAlpha, in September 2018.

Roadstar.ai

AI Startup

Out of the five levels of vehicle automation, Roadstar.ai specializes in level 4 (highly autonomous under select conditions) vehicle technologies by integrating multiple sensors. The company has developed two key products, HeteroSync and DeepFusion, to achieve highly accurate and efficient driving solutions. The company currently has teams in both China and Silicon Valley.

SenseTime

AI Startup

Sensetime is a computer vision company that grew out of an academic team at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Its products are used in identity verification and real-time analytics, and it has played a major role in the expansion of the Chinese surveillance state. Valued at $4.5 billion as of May 2018, the company claims to have a training database of over 2 billion images.

Tencent

Tech Giant

Tencent specializes in internet-related services with a focus on social media and gaming. The company opened an AI lab in Shenzhen to develop machine learning and voice recognition capabilities, among others. Coupled with equity investments in and acquisitions of startups, the company has established a strong foothold in China's AI ecosystem. The company went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2004.

Tusimple

AI Startup

Tusimple creates level 4 (highly autonomous under select conditions) vehicle solutions specifically for the trucking industry. It has R&D facilities in both Beijing and San Diego, and in 2017 took on investment from American AI chipmaker Nvidia.

Tuya Smart

AI Startup

Tuya Smart offers Internet of Things solutions to achieve intelligentization of traditional products. The company works with consumers, manufacturers, and retailers to make products smarter. According to the company, it has served nearly 100,000 clients as of October 2018.

UBTECH

AI Startup

UBTECH builds intelligent humanoid robots to help with household chores, entertainment, and education. The company has a global presence and its products, such as the JIMU Robot designed for elementary age children, are carried by Target and Amazon.

Unisound

AI Startup

Unisound develops voice-based technologies. It aims to enhance Internet of Things devices by adding AI capabilities such as voice recognition and language processing. According to the company, its technologies now service nearly 100 million devices.

YiTU

AI Startup

YiTU is a computer vision company. Its products have been applied to sectors ranging from security and finance to healthcare and transportation. The company counts major Chinese banks and local police bureaus among its clients. In 2017, it won first place in a major facial recognition competition hosted by the US Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activities (IARPA).